Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/585

Rh offered to promote a narrow-minded, , to the vacant post. &ldquo;Is your king mad?&rdquo; bluntly exclaimed the - whilst hastening to accept, on the part of the, the proffered tool of aggression! Before two years had passed the religious strife was in a blaze everywhere,— advisers more eagerly listened to at, n s all but unanimous in their opposition against moderate counsels, and (so the was informed) the leadership of these machinations against the internal peace of  entrusted to members of that uniformly  body, the. In this extremity Bunsen was again summoned to from his post. It is difficult at this distance of time to discern how far the advice he may have given was founded upon too sanguine a view both of the power of an absolute king, unaided by an emancipated public opinion, a free press, or a, and of the intensity of the agitation raging in districts. But this much is known that, when the seizure of the chief offender in his  at  was resolved upon, Bunsen understood that the  would forthwith be placed before the  of the country for disobedience to. This was never done, and the seizure was so mismanaged that the incriminating documents are said to have been destroyed before the judicial authorities had set foot in the. Thus a complete failure was the result of this very unsafe step. The Government thought it easier to leave Bunsen unsupported when, after his return to, he courageously attempted to convince the of the 's guilt, and, in the hope of burying the matter in oblivion, they accepted Bunsen's offer of , in  1838. It may not be irrelevant to mention here that 's successor,, on his elevation to the throne in 1840,  from. This romantic king established his policy towards the on the principle of granting liberty of action to the  power,—a liberty so well employed both before and since the, that at this moment (1876) all the energies of a powerful  and a  are taxed to the utmost to find a basis for harmonious coexistence between modern s and the  of. When Bunsen left a politically disappointed man, he was able, nevertheless, to look back upon a term of years filled with everything that could adorn life—intense domestic contentment, intimacy with distinguished men of every who had sojourned in  during his twenty-one years' residence there, success in establishing s which, like the  Institute, the, and the  , have outlived his stay, experience in public affairs, and a deepening of his  convictions. had become the centre of his most tender emotions, of his intellectual activity, of his practical aspirations. To restore to the that place in the households of  which it had possessed in the first generations after the, to revive the knowledge and the love of the   s, to give his people such a  of Common , resting upon the  of all  ages, as would help congregations in &ldquo;presenting themselves a living ,&rdquo; to rekindle the fervour of other days for works of self-devotion and , to work out a   of ,—such were the purposes to which he devoted his happiest and best s in each succeeding. Whilst he was at a  of ancient s and a  were. Bunsen always looked back in later years upon his time as men are apt to remember their days. Right joyous had been his intercourse with ists such as,, , , , , ,. He had become one of the best-informed men among -, and was so attracted by the charms of  as to surrender to the temptation of contributing volumes to the  Description of Rome. Few strangers have ever lived on terms of greater intimacy with, or possessed a more entire command of than Bunsen. He was a believer in their al revival and political future at a time when was &ldquo;a  expression&rdquo; only and when her  treasures and her blue sky were her only acknowledged qualities. Among ; among , , and ; among  , , , , , and others became his friends. But his most cherished intercourse was with visitors and residents, to which he owed an acquaintance with  life such as has rarely been possessed by any foreigner who never had set foot in this country. Towards, then, did he turn his face in 1838 to enjoy the leisure occasioned by his removal from, and in , except when he held a brief appointment as n to  from 1839 to 1841, the remainder of his official life was spent. Between the Crown Prince of and Bunsen a very close intimacy had sprung up ever since they met at in 1828. They were attracted to each other by similarity of tastes, of  temperament, and of  aspiration. In their enthusiasm for each other, the prince as well as the public servant fondly hoped, after, that diversity of character and of self-grown conviction, however marked, would tend rather to compensate defects than to disturb harmonious action. Their correspondence lately published (in part) by, the , shows the truthfulness and the durability of this remarkable , and helps to explain why its results were not commensurate to the worth and intellectual capacity of the men who were united by it. The new king had no sooner ascended the under the name of  than he contemplated the erection of an -n ric at, intended to represent an  as a united power, and to give a rallying point to   in  and. The time seemed propitious for this fantastic scheme. The four allied powers, under the leadership of, had reinstated the in the possession of. The would therefore readily grant a similar representation to  es to that possessed by  and. summoned Bunsen to, and instructed him to negotiate in the establishment of such a ric on. In an incredibly short time ( to 1841) Bunsen succeeded in bringing it about, with the 's courteous assent, and the energetic furtherance of the  of  and the  of,  paying in a  which secured one-half of its endowment, whilst the other half was to be raised in. Much suspicion was felt and opposition raised against any association of the with, in both countries alike, though from